Five-straight series splits have the Ohio hockey team itching to sweep a series and end the 2012 portion of its schedule.
Kent State (4-16) might be the team to scratch that itch as the Bobcats travel to Kent to take on the Golden Flashes for their final series until January.
But coach Dan Morris isn’t taking their former Central States College Hockey League rival lightly.
“I think they had a rough start to the season, which accounted for a lot of their losses,” Morris said. “They’ve been playing a lot better with a lot more close games, but they’re still giving up a lot of goals.”
The Golden Flashes have struggled to stop the opposition on offense, allowing six goals per game. That’s more than three goals higher than the Bobcats’ average. And with the Bobcats averaging 4.3 goals each game, putting the puck in the back of the net shouldn’t be difficult.
Morris isn’t concerned with his team’s play in the offensive zone. It’s the lack of defense his team has displayed lately that concerns him, as the Bobcats have allowed 12 total goals in their split with Minot State the previous weekend.
“For us, we work on getting back to our game, playing good defense. That’s our number one priority,” Morris said. “We gave up a lot of goals last weekend. Twelve goals is a lot for us, so we’ve been working on our defensive play and taking pride in it.”
And in the 7-1 loss this past Saturday against the Beavers, Ohio allowed six goals either on breakaways or odd man rushes. Freshman center Diego Breckenridge said Morris has put more of a focus on defense.
“All week in practice, we’ve been going over video and working over our defensive zone coverage,” Breckenridge said. “That’s something that we’ve been working on and coach has really been stressing on lately.”
Morris stressed that the team wanted to head into the winter break on a high note, and sweeping their in-state rival and former CSCHL foe would do the trick.
“Even though they’re not in our conference anymore, we still see this as a big rivalry for us,” Morris said. “Our goal is to be the best team in our state at our level and they’re one of the teams at our level.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
